Psychotherapist Liability Expanded in Recent Decision

OPEN MINDS The Behavioral Health & Social Service Industry Analyst Industry News The Arizona Supreme Court, in the case Hamman v. County of Maricopa, found a psychotherapist liable for the actions of a violence-prone patient, rejecting the previous limitation of “specific threat to specific victim” in application of the Tarasoff decision, according to a report in the June, 1989 issue of Law Reporter. In the Hamman v. County of Maricopa case, the patient, John Carter, was brought to Maricopa County Hospital by his mother and stepfather, Alice and Robert Hamman. Dr. Suguitan, a psychiatrist, who had admitted Carter to . . .